Part 1: Emotional Design Series - Why They'll Love Your Product Key takeaways while enrolled in a course at Interaction Design Foundation
What is it about a product that makes it so irresistible? Why is one idea a flop and another an overnight success? How do you create a product that speaks to the emotions of the consumer?
If you've felt overwhelmed with the task of "reading your user's mind", then you're in luck. From simple examples to user research, you can discover the truth. It's out there.
In this series, Emotional Design - Why They'll Love Your Product, we will explore the context of emotion in design, the effects on the brain's emotional responses that products produce, the concept of creating an experience for the user, and how Maslow's hierarchy of needs fits into all of this.
Take the Challenge
Coming into this, you may have a lot riding on whether you can figure out what needs to change about your product in order to see positive results. Testing can sometimes be a high risk venture. Or, your budget may be sizable and the management flexible with the resources you have to work with.
Regardless of which camp you're in, the key is to make small, rapid, and measured adjustments. The most important thing you can do is to be open minded to your intuition. Listen and learn. Act when your gut instinct tells you to. Trust your actions. Realign when needed. The greatest enemy of progress is fear, the fear of trying something out or taking the next step into the dark.
So, before you read any further, make a personal commitment now, to do something about what you read. There will be empowering principles discussed during this series. You can be the difference. This is your time. Apply what you learn and make it happen.
Emotional Resonance
Although you would do well to learn from your particular user base, self-evaluation can also be instructive. Let's get warmed up by trying a few exercises before diving into the content. The purpose is to elicit greater awareness of the world around you, life's ultimate classroom, while understanding how parts of everyday life effect your emotional state.
Color Theory
Individual color preferences begin developing during childhood. Most of us have a favorite color, some have two. I love the color blue, more often the lighter varieties. The main reason why is probably because I am red-green colorblind. (Imagine that, a designer and developer who is colorblind. Creatures adapt, do they not.) Anyway, certain colors can mean different things to different people. Colors also evoke different emotions.
Why are cinema villains often garbed in dark colors? (Imagine a pink Darth Vader. Not the same effect.) Why are happy faces yellow? Why do "happy" colors often exist in light hues? Why do we avoid painting the walls in our homes dark brown, black, or blood red? Well, that just seems wrong. But why? What if mashed potatoes were bright red?
Once, while I was dating my wife, I made her a Valentines dinner and dyed the mashed potatoes red. I thought it'd be fun. Do you think she ate them? Nope. Was I offended. Not at all. I quickly realized how grossed out I was my great idea gone wrong. However, they were the same mashed potatoes, nonetheless.
Take a look around. What colors do you see? Are the colors of the various items that you possess a significant reason why you keep them around? Imagine a couple of items orange, navy, or chartreuse.
Personal Connotation
I'm no gamer, but whenever I see these classic characters, a flood of memories rush back into my mind, along with a whole lot of emotion.
My twin sister and I used to play for hours. We loved it and the graphics were unparalleled back then. I wondered why she would jerk the controller around when she tried to make Mario jump. Hot summer days were spent inside rocking the Mario Cart scene. I remember getting friends together and ordering pizzas. Seeing these characters again brings back an endless amount of memories of my childhood. Times when days were less complicated and fun came much easier.
Here's another example. You might have taken a trip to Australia 8 years ago. You met some amazing people, fell in love with the landscape, left half your heart in Sydney, and now you find yourself decorating in that style because of how meaningful that trip was for you.
Which products and gadgets do you have or still buy because of their sentimental value? What items have you obtained simply because they carry with them emotional resonance, a representation of cherished memories from the annals of your life?
Recap
Understanding how your user is feeling and why can be the very data you need when nailing down that perfect product. Designing based on emotional elements is something to consider. Your first step, however, is identifying your internal emotions. Let what you feel due to the environment around you dictate what your user might feel in the environment you place them in.
Interacting with a gadget or product stimulates the brain in multiple ways. What kinds of stimulation can occur and why does that happen? Hang on tight because these are the kinds of questions that will be answered throughout the duration of the of the series.
Action
Commit to take action on what you learn from your reading. Here are a few action items. Share your thoughts in the comment section below.
Identify items that exist around you due to the way the color of those items cause you to feel.
Identify items that exist around you due to their sentimental value
Just go for it!
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